Accordion



Dec. 3 1935. o, SCHMHDT 2,023,342

ACCORDION Filed July 13, 1935 Patented Dec. 3, 1935 UNITED STATES ACCORDION Otto Schmidt, De Kalb, I1l., assignor to Wurlitzer Grand Piano Company, De Kalb, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application July 13, 1935, Serial No. 31,237

11 Claims.

This invention relates to accordions, and is particularly directed to improvements in the construction of the reed blocks. One object of the invention is to reduce the necessary size of the reed blocks, thus permitting of a more compact construction than has been possible heretofore. Another object is to take advantage of the more compact construction by increasing the number of reeds corresponding to each principal tone;

and a further object is to provide means for rendering ineffective various reeds corresponding to any given tone to modify the timber or quality of the tone, and thus produce a wide variety of musical effects.

The invention consists in certain features and elements of construction in combination as herein shown and described, and as indicated by the claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a partial plan view takeninside an accordion and showing the reed blocks mounted therein, with parts broken away at several points to disclose details of the construction.

Figure 2 is a detail section taken as indicated at line 2-2 on Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a transverse section taken as indicated at line 3-3 onFigure 1.

Figure 4 is a plan section taken through one of the reed chambers, as indicated at line 4--4 on Figure .3.

In the conventional accordion construction the reed block is usually made with a series of chambers arranged in pairs, the two chambers of each pair being separated by a partition, and

the wall of each chamber opposite such partition being composed of two reeds, one operable by inflow and the other by outflow of air through the chamber, and both tuned to produce the same pitch. My construction eliminates the partitions and provides each chamber with reeds at two opposite sides, so that normally the air flowing through the chamber sounds two reeds simultaneously. These reeds may be tuned as much as an octave apart, or with only a differonce of a few vibrations, depending upon the tonal efiect desired. And in my construction I provide means for muting either of the two reeds to prevent it from vibrating so that the other reed may be sounded alone when a different eiiect is desired.

As shown in Figure 1, the compartment, 10, of the accordion in which the reed blocks are mounted, houses six reed blocks, 11, which are shown arranged in parallel fashion and are removably held in place by the usual pivoted retainers, 12. Each block, 11, is divided into a series of reed chambers, 13, and in the base, 14, of the block there is formed a port, 15, for each of the reed chambers. If desired, the base, 14, may be faced with metal, such as aluminum, at 5 I6, and the plate, 16, will have apertures registering with the ports, 15, and controlled by valves, 11, in the usual manner. The chambers, 13, of each reed block are separated from each other by transverse partition walls, 18, and may 10 be substantially rectangular in cross-section. Both lateral walls of each reed block support the reeds which are arranged in pairs, and thus compose both of the other two walls of each chamber, 13. For example, as shown in Figure 4, the 15 reeds, 20 and 20 are mounted at one side of the chamber, 13, and reeds, 21 and 21*, are disposed at the other side of the chamber. The reeds, 20 and 21 will be sounded by air entering the chamber past the reeds and escaping 20 through the port, 15, while the reeds, 2|] and 21 will be sounded by air flowing in the opposite direction. Each reed has associated with it the usual leather flap, 22, which prevents it from responding to air-flow in one direction. 25

While accordions may be built with any desired number of reed blocks, 1 1, limited only by the range of practical dimensions for handling the instruments, the structure illustrated may be understood as including three reed blocks cor- 30 responding to a single manual key, not shown, and controlled simultaneously by a single one of the valves, 11, seating over the three ports, 15, of the respective reed blocks. Thus, when this valve is opened there is a possibility of sounding 35 six reeds simultaneously, and by tuning certain of these reeds slightly flat and tuning others slightly sharp, and perhaps including in the group one or more reeds tuned a full octave from the pitch of the principal reed or reeds, I can 40 produce a very rich tone quality. In the construction shown one group of three reed blocks may correspond to the white keys of the keyboard, and the other group of three blocks may conveniently support the reeds which are played 45 by the black keys of the manual.

Associated with each reed block, and preferably mounted in the base, 14, of the block, is a slide valve, 23, having ports, 24, which may be registered with the ports, 15, in the reed block, 50 but which may be shifted to position for simultaneously closing all these ports, 15, throughout the length of the block, 11. Thus, by shifting any one of these slide valves, 23, to closed position, two of the reeds in the group of six con- 55 trolled by any single key of the manual may be rendered ineffective, and the resulting tone will be a combination of that produced by four reeds only, or for certain effects two of the slide valves, 23, may be closed, leaving only one pair of reeds to be sounded when one of the valves, I1, is opened.

Associated with each reed block there are also four rock shafts, 25, and each rock shaft carries a plurality of fingers, 26, of fine wire and of suflicient length tobe swung into contact with r the free ends of certain reeds to prevent them from vibrating. One rock shaft thus may control all the reeds on one side of the reed block which are operated by inflow of air. A second rock shaft, extending through the chambers, l3, may control all the reeds on one side of the reed block which are operated by inflow of air. A second rock shaft, extending through the chambers, l3, may control all the reeds at that side of the block which operate by outflow of air; a third rock shaft, also extending through the chambers, l3, will control one set of reeds at the other side of the chamber, while the remaining reeds are subject to control of the fourth rock shaft when the fine wire fingers thereof are swung into contact with the ends of the reeds. Each rock shaft may have an operating crank arm, 2'1, disposed at one end of the reed block, and these crank arms will be connected by any suitable linkage to operating buttons or levers extending in a wellunderstood manner, within convenient reach of the operator, but not shown herein. In idle position the fingers, 26, of each rock shaft will be swung far enough away from the vibrating ends of the reeds to allow them to vibrate freely and naturally, but when the rock shaft is swung to bring the fingers into contact with the reeds they will be completely silenced. Thus, with my construction, instead of shutting off all the reeds in one block by the use of the slide valve, 23, I may render ineffective only one-half of the reeds on any single reed block, that is, the two sets of reeds corresponding to a given pitch and operating respectively by inflow and outflow of air.

By grouping the reeds in accordance with my invention, upon reed blocks which are built without medial partitions,.I am enabled to make these reed blocks considerably narrower than in the conventional construction, so that in an accordion of standard size I can provide a combination of six reeds to each manual key instead of the four reeds heretofore accommodated in the same space. And by the use of the several rock shafts, and with the muting fingers controlling any single set of reeds, I can secure a wider variety of tone qualities and effects than has ever been possible heretofore. With this wide range of tone values the accordion will realistically simulate the music of the following instruments: cello, violin, oboe, flute, bassoon, fiageolet, French horn or bass clarinet; and with certain adjustments of the tonecontrolling devices the simultaneous vibration of certain selected reeds will produce a definite beat giving a tremolo or vibrato effect such as that Which is characteristic of the cello. I believe that the improved tone effects which I secure in an accordion employing reed blocks of the construction herein described may be due in part at least to the effect of one reed upon a reed mounted directly opposite to it on the same reed block, acting through the medium of the air in the chamber between them which is unobstructed by reason of the omission of any medial partition; 7

and that'fo-r this inter-action between the reeds it is important to keep the distance between them relatively small,-somewhat less than it would be if the medial partition were merely removed from a reed block of conventional design. It may be understood that the specific manual control devices herein illustrated may be varied as desired, to arrange them within convenient reach of the player, and it may also be understood that the proportions of some parts, as for example, the muting wire fingers, 26, are necessarily ex- 10 aggerated in the drawing for the sake of clearness. And while there is shown and described herein certain specific structure embodying the invention, it will be manifest to those skilled in the art that various modifications and re-arrangements of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention, and that the same is not limited to the particular form herein shown and described, except in so far as indicated by the appended claims. 0

I claim:

1. In an accordion, a reed block formed with a chamber and a port leading thereto, a valve at said portfor controlling the flow of air through the chamber, a plurality of reeds associated with said chamber with a substantially unobstructed air space between them adapted to vibrate simultaneously and sympathetically in response to the flow of air through said chamber, together with means adjustable at will to prevent the vibration of one of said reeds.

2. In an accordion, a reed block formed with a. chamber and a port leading thereto, a valve at said port for controlling the flow of air through the chamber, a plurality of reeds associated with said chamber for simultaneous response to the flow of air therethrough when said valve is opened, together with a. pivotally mounted finger rockable at will into contact with one of the reeds adjacent its free end to prevent its vibration.

3. In an accordion, a reed block formed with a plurality 'of chambers and separate ports leading to said chambers respectively, a valve controlling each of said ports, a plurality of reeds associated with each chamber and a rock shaft mounted on the reed block having a plurality of fingers extending for silencing one reed of each chamber when the shaft is rocked to bring said fingers into contact with said reeds respectively.

4. In an accordion, a reed block formed with a plurality of chambers, a plurality of reeds associated with each chamber and adapted to vibrate simultaneously in response to the flow of air through that chamber, together with a plurality of rock shafts mounted on the reed block, each shaft having a series of fingers arranged so that when the shaft is rocked each of said fingers engages one reed in each of the chambers, and when another shaft is rocked each of its fingers engages a different reed in each chamber, whereby said reeds may be selectively silenced in groups for modifying the tone quality.

5. In an accordion, a reed block formed with a pluralityrof chambers and separate ports leading to said chambers respectively, a valve controlling each of said ports, a plurality of reeds associated with each chamber and unobstructedly connected directly with each other by the body of air in the chamber and thus adapted to react upon each other when vibrated in response to the flow of air through thatchamber, together with means adjustable at will to prevent the vibration of one reed of each chamber in the block.

6. In an accordion, a reed block formed with a chamber and a port leading thereto, a valve controlling said port and a plurality of reeds associated with said chamber and in direct contact with the substantially unobstructed air space through which vibrations may be transmitted directly from one of the reeds to another, whereby said reeds are adapted to vibrate simultaneously in response to the flow of air through the chamber, together with means adjustable at will to prevent the vibration of any one of said reeds selectively.

'7. In an accordion, a plurality of reed blocks each formed with a series of chambers, each chamber having a port, a series of valves each arranged for controlling one port in each of the reed blocks simultaneously, a plurality of reeds associated with each chamber with a substantially uninterrupted air space between them and adapted to vibrate simultaneously and sympathetically in response to the flow of air through such chamber, means adjustable at will for simultaneously controlling a selected group of ports independently of the aforesaid valves, and independent means adjustable at will to prevent the vibration of a selected reed in each chamber of a predetermined group.

8. A reed block for an accordion formed with a chamber and having openings at opposite sides thereof, and a reed mounted in each opening, said chamber being dimensioned to provide a narrow, unobstructed air-confining space extending directly across the chamber from one of said reeds to the other, whereby the vibration of one reed may affect that of the other through the medium of the air confined between them, said reeds being tuned so that their respective normal periods of vibration differ from each other.

9. A reed block for an accordion formed with a chamber and having openings at opposite sides thereof, and a reed mounted in each opening, said chamber being dimensioned to provide a narrow, unobstructed air-confining space extending directly across the chamber from one of said reeds to the other, whereby the vibration of one reed may affect that of the other through the medium of the air confined between them, said reeds being tuned to slightly difierent normal periods of vibration.

10. A reed block for an accordion formed with a chamber and having openings at opposite sides thereof, and a reed mounted in each opening, said chamber being dimensioned to provide a narrow, unobstructed air-confining space extending directly across the chamber from one of said reeds to the other, whereby the vibration of one reed may affect that of the other through the medium of the air confined between them, said reeds being tuned so that their rerespective normal periods of vibration constitute a slightly imperfect octave.

11. In an accordion of the type described and of substantially standard size, a compartment with a plurality of reed blocks mounted therein extending parallel to each other, each block comprising a single row of chambers separated from each other by fixed partitions, the two opposite walls of a chamber defining a narrow unobstructed air confining space within the chamber Without any intervening fixed partition, and a pair of reeds within the chamber spaced apart by said air space, whereby such reed blocks may be dimensioned so that as many as six such blocks may be disposed in said parallel arrangement in a compartment of substantially standard dimensions.

OTTO SCHMIDT. 

